Little Rescue on the Prairie: Cat Enrichment Grant Report
How did this grant help your organization and the pets in your care?
Little Rescue on the Prairie receives many cats each month that are surrendered by owners or found abandoned on the streets of nearby towns and brought in by concerned citizens. They are housed inside the rescue in clean, sanitized surroundings. Danielle, the director, has a large outdoor area that had not been used except by a few feral cats until we received the Cat Enrichment Grant from the Petfinder Foundation.
With the help of volunteers and monies from the grant, we assembled a metal yard kennel with a door for many of these inside cats to play outside in safety. They can move about freely, play together calmly, and escape into houses filled with straw if the weather gets chilly. They have a cat exercise tree to climb on along with other cat enrichment toys. This outdoor kennel helps them socialize with each other while getting fresh air and healing sunlight. A plastic chair is in the kennel so that volunteers can sit in there with the kitties and socialize them quicker.
How many pets did this grant help?
300
Please provide a story of one or more specific pets this grant helped.
Rufus (first photo) is an adult neutered male cat. He is litter-trained and is up-to-date on all his vaccinations.
Rufus was rescued from a trailer park where he was living without a home and constantly running from attacks by dogs and people. He tended to have strong boundaries and sometimes would bat or even nibble or bite when he was approached suddenly.
Volunteers from the rescue have been working with him and he has come a long way. He can be petted now and is completely adoptable. He is a very loving and sweet boy and just wants a home of his own. He definitely needs to be the only cat though; because of his background, he’s become very aggressive toward other cats and will fight.
He needs to be an indoor cat. He will fill up your home with lots of energy and loves to chat. He has a really sweet and fun personality. He loves to be outside in the fresh air and sunshine and, with this opportunity, he has become much less aggressive.
Jessica (second photo) is a very sweet senior lady who really is in need of a very good home. She is litter-trained and up-to-date on her vaccinations. She was found in a trailer park, and the rescue was called to come out and get her because her health was failing. It turned out she has some digestive issues and needed a special diet. She is on a wet and dry food diet.
Unfortunately, she doesn’t get along with other cats, probably due to having to fight for any food or warm space when she was out on the streets in the trailer park. She just needs a quiet home where she can be the only cat to be loved on and enjoy life. When she gets stressed, she tends to pull her hair out of her back, so she needs a quiet place where someone will just pet and love her.
Neither of these cats has been adopted so far. They will love being in the outside cat kennel that the Petfinder Foundation Cat Enrichment grant funded. It will be a quiet, calm place for them to socialize and feel safe. The bright sunlight and fresh air will do wonders for their recovery and hopefully they can be adopted soon.
